Notre Dame Cathedral in HCM City introduced in book by French photographer

Considered as the "miniature image museum" of Vietnam more than 100 years ago, the 280-page book depict  significant architecture and beauty spots changed. While Hue Royal Citadel and the Temple of Literature in Hanoi are kept intact, the landscape and surroundings of Hoan Kiem Lake and Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral look vastly different.

The book aims to be a museum of images capturing Indochina in the late 19th century, filled with captions about the life and people in Vietnam.

Photos were collected from Dieulefils trip to Indochina in 1885. He spent most of his life capturing images of people, landscapes, and whatever he found interesting.

Dieulefils was born in Malestroit Village in the Bretagne region of France in 1862. He joined the army in 1883 and was later assigned to Indochina in 1885.

Two years later, he was discharged and returned to France. In 1888, he returned to Vietnam and became a professional photographer and postcard publisher.

In 1905, he went to Sai Gon (now HCM City) and then travelled to Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

The book is on sale at bookstores for 680,000 VND.

Following are photos in the book: